End of the Long Winter.

[fluxscapemod]

What: The entirety of Driftcrest and YOU! Even you new faces!
Where: The large park in the center of town.
When: From the 15th to the 18th
Warnings: Will warn as needed.

The people of Driftcrest have so much to celebrate. Their loved ones have been returned to them, and the Unseen are well and truly and genuinely gone. Not only that, but a Winter that had been going on for years is finally ended and it's well and truly Summer. Flowers are blooming, there's color in the town that wasn't there before. People are happy. They have their freedom back, and are taking full advantage of it.

Now that there's no longer a curfew, the party can go well into the night with music, dancing, food of all kinds all over the place both set on tables and in various food trucks.

With the hammocks hung up in the area, along with portable ones available to purchase, and twinkling string lights threaded through the trees, the setting is peaceful. A far cry from the stress of the last few weeks.

There's music, both live and recorded, and an outdoor dance floor has been set up under some beautiful hanging lanterns and twinkling string lights. Once the sun goes down, there'll be fires set up for people to sit by and make s'mores.

All in all, this promises to be a memorable experience.

Grab some food, buy a hammock, find somewhere to celebrate because this party will go on for a while.

Comments

Adam Parrish | OTA

[forleaving]

a. Festivities

As miserable as Adam was, he was glad they'd been able to do a good thing for Driftcrest. He was glad to see people happy, relaxing, without the threat of the Unseen looming over everyone. The sudden shift to summer reminded him of his last summer at the Barns before he was snatched away from Harvard, but he was doing his best not to think about that. In fact, he was trying (and failing) not to think about a lot of things. It was the murder crabs all over, having to watch Ronan cry, having to tell him this won't work. Except this time it was a completely different context.

He half-heartedly picked at a funnel cake even as his stomach growled. He hadn't eaten a whole lot over the last week, and not for lack of trying. You'd think it'd be hard to be miserable during a celebration like this, but Adam was a master at achieving the impossible.

Looking up when someone came near, he forced a half-hearted smile. "It's a nice celebration, isn't it?" he said. His Southern accent was out in full force, meaning he couldn't be bothered to hide it like he usually did.

b. Later that night

The dark circles under his eyes spoke volumes to how well he'd been sleeping, but not getting a lot of sleep was nothing new to Adam. What was new was falling asleep in a hammock in the middle of a party, hearing ear pressed against his curled arm, effectively muffling the loud music. The music wouldn't have kept him up anyway; he could sleep when Ronan's electronic music was playing, and this wasn't much different in terms of volume.

Wake him up?

B | Stalker alert!

[un_wir_greywaren]

Ronan won't sleep in a hammock, but he will pick a spot under a tree to lean his head back and watch Adam Parrish sway very slightly in his own hammock not that far away. It's because Adam is asleep that keeps Ronan at a distance, watching. He knows what it took for him to talk about his feelings the way he did and to hurt people he cares about.

So he'll keep watch and drink his upgraded drink. Beer was never his favorite, but it had been easier to get back home. Whiskey is in his blood, like his dads, so it works a whole lot better for killing off his brain so he doesn't have to think. Nothing to think about. Gansey and Adam have to do what's best for themselves and he's going to accept whatever that is so long as he can sit under a tree and watch to make sure they can sleep.

[forleaving]

Adam slept fitfully until a pesky fly tried to climb up his nose. Then it was impossible to sleep, and he woke with a quick slap at his face, shooing the fly away. Blinking blearily, he was immediately inundated with music as soon as he sat up, feet resting on the ground. He hadn't meant to fall asleep; he'd just been so tired lately.

Looking around, he combed his fingers through his hair, fixing it to the best of his ability. His heart stuttered in his chest when he saw Ronan. Adam could have easily pretended he hadn't seen him but it wouldn't have stopped the way his stomach wrenched. He looked away. Then looked back, watching Ronan for a moment. Adam's expression said, do you want me to come over there?

[un_wir_greywaren]

Trying not to laugh at the fly in the nose reaction was like trying not to rev the engine of the BMW at the light with K rumbling right next to him. He managed by stifling it with a long pull from his bottle.

He closed his eyes for a moment, imagined the light turning green, the sound of the engine, the feel of it vibrating in every part of his body. When he opened his eyes again Adam was looking at him. He looked back. And then shifted over to make room against the tree. The bottle disappeared out of sight. The last time he remembered being like this Gansey had found him in the Church holding Chainsaw.

No. The last time had been with K.

[forleaving]

For a moment that felt a lot longer than it really was, Adam was certain Ronan was going to shake his head. But he didn't, and Adam's heart was in his throat. He wouldn't have blamed Ronan one bit if he'd wanted nothing to do with Adam.

Quietly, he slid out of the hammock and made his way over, lowering himself down next to Ronan, nearly shoulder to shoulder but acutely aware of the small space between them. He didn't know what to say. Was there anything he could say? He was a cascade of emotions, desperately wanting to kiss Ronan, to hold him, to do anything like they used to, but he knew he couldn't. He had no right to, especially after what he'd done. He was lucky enough to just be sharing the same space with Ronan. It was more than he deserved.

"I'm sorry." He felt like he'd always be sorry, that he'd keep apologizing until the day he died.

[un_wir_greywaren]

"Don't fucking apologize." Adam and Gansey didn't owe him an apology. Ever. Not for any reason. And as irrational as it might seem to others it made him angry to think about either of them apologizing to anyone.

"Don't ever fucking apologize for being honest about who you are and how you feel and what you fucking want and don't want."

Ronan leaned his head back against the tree, closed his eyes. "Are you hungry? We could get something from every truck and see how much we can eat before we puke." He smirked and tipped his head to look at Adam with one eye open. "Or eat until we feel like puking, take the BMW out to one of the fields and see who pukes first."

[forleaving]

Adam ducked his head, gaze focused on his knees. It felt wrong to not be blamed in this situation. It was his fault, this time. Before this, he'd blamed this place for snatching them from different times, for ruining his life and screwing everything up. But this? This was his fault. He should have known better in the first place, but he hadn't, he'd just thought...he'd wanted...

"That sounds terrible," he said, but his voice was fond. "What about just taking the BMW out to a field?" Could they skip the puking part? He didn't really feel like puking. Or rather, he already kind of did and that was the problem.

[un_wir_greywaren]

"Terrible is my middle name." Ronan confessed proudly as if Adam didn't already know this about him. "They should turn the park into an outdoor movie theater. Drive-in without the cars."

He considered tearing up a field with Adam in the BMW, but his heart really wasn't into any sort of destruction at the moment. Enough had been destroyed recently and all he wanted was to keep what was left as close to him as possible.

"I promised Gansey I wouldn't drink and drive." It was said quietly, feeling guilty because he had tried to keep the drinking as far from Adam as possible and wanted to keep his promises to Gansey.

[forleaving]

"That'd be nice. The weather's a lot warmer now." Lending to outdoor activities. Besides that, Adam'd never really gone to movie theaters before; they were too expensive. It'd be almost a novelty here.

"I'm genuinely shocked you're choosing the safe option." He was teasing, to the best of his ability right now. He knew Ronan was sensible sometimes, and he was glad Gansey could keep him from doing anything too stupid. Adam didn't care that Ronan drank; he just wanted him to be safe.

Instinctively, he started to reach out to rest a hand on Ronan's knee but stopped halfway through the motion. Freezing for a moment, he drew his hand back. "Some other time," he said, as if he hadn't done anything.